Ancient Roman Artifact Is Seized by Italian Officials

ROME - Military police officers in the northern Italian city of Piacenza announced Thursday that they had recovered the head of a more than 2,000-year-old Roman statue that was very likely plundered from Italian soil.

The terra-cotta head, which archaeologists date to the late Republican era - from the second to the first century B.C. - was being discreetly shopped around on the underground antiquities market, in an unsuccessful effort that ultimately tipped off the police. The artifact was confiscated last week from a 62-year-old dentist from Parma, who was unable to produce convincing documents proving ownership, said Capt. Rocco Papaleo, the carabinieri officer who led the investigation. The terra-cotta body that was once attached to the head has not been identified.

In recent years, the Italian state has actively pursued the sale of antiquities illegally looted from Italy's archaeologically rich soil, toughening laws against the plunderers and aggressively pursuing foreign museums with archaeological holdings with iffy provenance in court. That may have put off some buyers, Captain Papaleo suggested.

“It was either too expensive or potential buyers were nervous about acquiring it,” he said.

The dentist, who was not identified, had entrusted the statue to an antique furniture restorer in Piacenza to sell it “for many thousands of euros,” Captain Papaleo said.

The dentist told the carabinieri that he'd had the artifact, which he conserved in a special showcase in his home, for thirty years. But archaeologists who examined the terra-cotta head on Thursday said it might come from a much fresher dig.

Archaeologists will test the dirt still attached to the head “to determine how long it's been out of the ground,” said Filippo Maria Gambari, the culture ministry official in charge of archaeology for the region of Reggio Emilia, where the head was confiscated. Based on an initial impression, he said , the statue seems to have been dug up “no more than ten years ago, perhaps even less,” but only scientific analysis will arrive at a more precise dating.

Tests on the dirt and on the head itself should also help archaeologists to zero in on its origins. “Maybe not the exact spot, but at least in the vicinity,” Mr. Gambari said. “Votive sculptures like this were common in Republican sanctuaries found in both Lazio and Campania and even farther south.”